Notes from a small cavy

"Nearly 150 years ago, the Austrian abassador in London complained to Sir George Grey, the Home Secretary, that Karl Marx and other members of the Communist League were discussing 'the murder of princes'. By way of reply, Grey treated the ambassador to a rather lofty lecture on the nature of liberal democracy: 'Under our laws, mere discussion of regicide, so long as it does not concern the Queen of England, and so long there is no definite plan, does not constitute sufficient grounds for the arrest of the conspirators"

Francis Wheen, Hoo-Hahs and Passing Frenzies



I'm very scared at the moment.
Britain has just had its first woman convicted under new anti-terrorist laws and the first to be tried is 23 year old Sarmina Malik found guilty of "possessing material likely to be of use to terrorism". What worries me is that the material doesn't consists of guns, semtex, ricin or large bombs with visible fizzing fuses and "bomb" written on in white stenciling, but books. Yes, books. One of which, 'The Al Qaeda Manual" I have, as a service to bloggers, sourced to an extremist web-site operating in America which also sells vile anti-semitic propaganda, racist films praising the Ku Klux Klan and and music which has been described as 'the wailing of heretics as they are tortured in the pit of hell" . It's not likely it's particularly difficult to get hold of this material for any aspiring suicide bomber with a credit card, so I can't particularly see how Sarmina was aiding any terrorist groups in possessing this material. There is no indication that she was a member of any terrorist group, or planning any terrorist activities; instead the evidence just points to her being a damaged unhappy young girl who took refuge in materials depicting violence; no difference from your average teenager who plays Final Fantasy or Dungeon & Dragons.

But the trial is suggesting that possession of the materials itself is a crime. Of course, the Mujhadeen Poisoner's handbook isn't a book I'd particular want my wife or servants reading, nevertheless I believe it is intensely worrying that we have started prosecuting people on what reading materials they posess.

As far as I can see, the materials haven't incited Sarmina to do anything she wasn't already thinking about doing already. Nor does it appear (unlike the case with child pornography and snuff films) that any actual crime has been committed in the production of this material. Quite simply, it appears that it is the mere possession of material that people find offensive is enough.

We have seen this week, Ken Livingstone calling for the extension of race laws to cover sexual orientation. . We have already had proposals to outlaw attacking religions. Last year, we saw threats to make flag burning illegal. . And we have had the proposal to criminalise violent pornography, even if it is only a computer simulation of violence and no animals were harmed. .

We seem to have travelled a long way from the days of Karl Marx when mere thoughts could not be criminalised

Labels: Politics